Slovenia erects fence on Croatian border

Slovenia began building a barbed-wire fence along its border with Croatia on Wednesday, a day after the prime minister announced his intention to erect temporary barriers to control the arrival of migrants.

News agencies reported that Slovenian military personnel had been deployed near the northeastern town of Gibina, on the border with Croatia, and had begun to erect barriers using rolls of barbed wire.

Slovenia has struggled to cope with the flow of migrants trying to get through its territory into Austria and Germany since Hungary closed its border with Croatia in mid-October, which prompted migrants to try to travel via Slovenia instead.

On Tuesday, about 7,400 refugees entered Slovenia, the STA news agency reported. Since mid-October, an estimated 180,000 migrants have passed through the Balkans, from Turkey via Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia via Slovenia and into Western Europe.

Prime Minister Miro Cerar’s response was to announce on Tuesday the construction of “temporary technical obstacles” to control the influx of refugees, arguing that his government expected another 30,000 people to arrive in the coming days. The new measure had the objective of avoiding a “humanitarian disaster,” he told AFP.

“These obstacles, including fences if needed, will have the objective of directing migrants towards the border crossings. We are not closing our borders,” he added.

Austria also announced at the end of October the construction of a fence to ensure an “orderly, controlled entry.”

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Rudy Haugeneder

How close are many Syrian refugees in Europe, where they are generally disliked, to returning home as civil war conditions change, and Assad takes advantage of quickly changing conditions.
Free Syrian Army decimated by desertions, says an Al Jazeera story today. In Aleppo, the rebel group has weakened as fighters leave due to low pay, poor conditions and fragmentation.
Hmmmm. This lack of international support for the FSA will eventually result in it joining the Assad army particularly when Assad offers the defectors immunity as well as cash and food to support their families. It is just a matter of time. After it happens many ISIS fighters will quietly ask for the same consideration — and be given it thereby severely weakening the group and, as is already beginning to happen now that it is clear that Europe and America don’t want them, mean many if not most Syrian refugees will quickly return home, helped, no doubt, by free transportation and a small bundle of cash to rebuild. All this will happen in the next couple of years.
Formed in August 2011 at the start of the Syrian civil war, the FSA comprises mainly defectors from the Syrian military. The group is viewed as moderate compared with the Islamist rebel groups that later emerged.